Like many others, I have watched the Jordan Peterson phenomenon unfold with a certain fascination. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you don’t spend a lot of time on social media, for Peterson, a mild-mannered psychology professor from the University of Toronto, has emerged as one of the hottest personalities on the internet. He is followed by millions of people, especially young men. His lectures and presentations—cool, understated, brainy, and blunt—are avidly watched and commented upon. And his new book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, is a number one bestseller all over the world. Moreover, Peterson’s spirited and articulate opposition to the imposition of speech codes in his native Canada has made him a controversial political player, a hero of free speech to his supporters and a right-wing ideologue to his detractors. His interview with Cathy Newman of Channel 4 News, during which Peterson’s interlocutor revealed herself as a hopelessly biased social justice warrior, has, as of this writing, been viewed 7.5 million times.

In many ways, Peterson is doing for this generation what Joseph Campbell did for the previous one, namely, reintroducing the archetypal psychology of C.G. Jung in an appealing and provocative manner. Jung’s theorizing centered around what he termed the archetypes of the collective unconscious, which is to say, those primordial instincts, insights, and memories that influence much of our behavior and that substantially inform the religions, philosophies, and rituals of the human race. The Jungian template enables Peterson to interpret many of the classical spiritual texts of Western culture in a fresh way—those very texts so often excoriated by mainstream intellectuals as hopelessly patriarchal, biased, and oppressive. It also permits him to speak with a kind of psychological and spiritual authority to which young people are not accustomed but to which they respond eagerly.

His new book, an elaboration of twelve basic psychological rules for life, makes for bracing and satisfying reading. Peterson’s considerable erudition is on clear display throughout, but so is his very real experience in the trenches as a practicing psychotherapist. His advice is smart indeed, but it never seems abstract, detached, or unrealistic. In the course of this brief article, I can only hint at some of his fascinating findings and recommendations. A theme that runs through the entire book is that of the play between order and chaos, symbolized most neatly by the intertwining fish of the Tao image. Human consciousness itself, Peterson argues, sets one foot in the former and the other in the latter, balancing the known and the unknown, the settled and the unexplored. Too much of one, and we fall into complacency, routine, and at the limit, tyranny; too much of the other, and we lose our bearings completely, surrendering to the void.

The great myths of the hero—from Gilgamesh to Luke Skywalker and Bilbo Baggins—typically recount the story of someone who leaves complacent domesticity behind in order to venture into the dangerous unknown, where he manages to find something of enormous value to his family or village or society. One key to psychological/spiritual fulfillment is to embody this archetype of the hero, to live one’s life as an adventurous exploration of the unknown. So Peterson tells his readers—especially young men, who have been cowed into complacency for various reasons—to throw back their shoulders, stand tall, and face the challenges of life head on. This archetype of the hero also allows us to read the story of Adam and Eve with fresh eyes. In Paradise (the word itself denotes "walled garden"), our first parents were secure and innocent, but in the manner of inexperienced children. Leaving Paradise was, in one sense, a positive move, for it permitted them to grow up, to engage the chaos of the unknown creatively and intelligently. This reading of Genesis, which has roots in Tillich, Hegel, and others, permits us to see that the goal of the spiritual life is not a simple return to the Garden of dreaming innocence, but rather an inhabiting of the Garden on the far side of the cross, that place where the tomb of Jesus was situated and in which the risen Christ appeared precisely as “gardener.”

Peterson’s investigation of the psyche of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was, for me, one of the most illuminating sections of the book. Solzhenitsyn, of course, was a victim of both Hitler and Stalin, a terrorized and dehumanized inmate in the Gulag Archipelago, and one of the most tortured of souls in the terrible twentieth century. It would have been surpassingly easy for him simply to curse his fate, to lash out in anger at God, to become a sullen figure scurrying about the margins of life. Instead, he endeavored to change his own life, to turn the light of his moral consciousness on himself, to get his psychological house in order. This initial move enabled him to see the world around him with extraordinary clarity and, eventually, to tell the story of Soviet depravity with such devastating moral authority. The lesson that Peterson draws from this example is this: if you want to change the corrupt world, “start to stop doing what you know to be wrong. Start stopping today.”

I have shared just a handful of wise insights from a book that is positively chockablock with them. So do I thoroughly support Jordan Peterson’s approach? Well, no, though a full explication of my objection would take us far beyond the confines of this brief article. In a word, I have the same concern about Peterson that I have about both Campbell and Jung, namely, the Gnosticizing tendency to read Biblical religion purely psychologically and philosophically and not at all historically. No Christian should be surprised that the Scriptures can be profitably read through psychological and philosophical lenses, but at the same time, every Christian has to accept the fact that the God of the Bible is not simply a principle or an abstraction, but rather a living God who acts in history. As I say, to lay this out thoroughly would require at least another article or two or twelve.

On balance, I like this book and warmly recommend it. I think it’s especially valuable for the beleaguered young men in our society, who need a mentor to tell them to stand up straight and act like heroes.

Jordan Peterson is not a Christian. As a result, when commenting on Christianity he’ll get some things wrong, or miss the point.

However, Peterson is a bit like one of the better Roman Stoics, or like Socrates, whom the Christians of the Patristic era occasionally rose to calling “Saint” (!) Socrates. Of course Seneca and Socrates and Aristotle and Cicero got some things wrong. But they had worked their way through natural reason to what is, against the background of humanity in general, a relatively sane kind of virtue ethics. And their respective societies reached out for that sanity like a drowning man lunging towards a life-raft.

So too, with Peterson.

Now the funny thing is that most of our post-Christian society already thinks they know what Christianity is, and they mostly have it wrong. They will not listen to a Christian, or even a nearly-Christian, virtue ethics delivered by a Christian speaker. But to Peterson? They will listen to him precisely because he is not a Christian.

Our young men need Christ, but leftist lies and our own fecklessness in evangelism have made Christ unpalatable to them. But through Peterson, they can receive a little bit of Christ, His wisdom, the Logos, and benefit. Better that, than nothing.

Posted by C-Marie on Monday, Mar, 5, 2018 2:52 PM (EDT):

What murder of Christians by Jews in the Ukraine??????? God bless, C-Marie

Posted by Mark on Sunday, Mar, 4, 2018 6:10 PM (EDT):

“Posted by Janet on Wednesday, Feb, 28, 2018 8:13 PM (EST):
Bishop Barron? Or is it Bishop Peterson? You “like” this book and “warmly” recommend it? A book written by a man who professes atheism? What message are you sending? Do you still believe in GOD?????”
Um in 2017 he is a self described Christian. “Am I Christian? – Timothy Lott and Jordan B Peterson”. Jordan B Peterson clips. YouTube. August 1, 2017. Interviewer: Quick question, are you a Christian? Peterson: I suppose the most straight-forward answer to that is yes, although I think it’s… it’s… let’s leave it at “yes”. Now he has been on youtube forever. That is where I first starting following his thoughts. Although not in 100% agreement (who ever is) he makes excellent points.

Posted by tallorder on Sunday, Mar, 4, 2018 12:45 PM (EDT):

When he was discussing Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s book “Two Hundred Years Together,” he stopped himself, unable to continue speaking about the Jewish murder of over 10 million Christians in the Ukraine.
While an interesting fellow and a great mind, the current climate still prevents even some of the better of us from discussing the Jewish Question like La Civiltà Cattolica did in its 1890 3-part series so masterfully.
The time has come to revisit this question.

Posted by Janet on Saturday, Mar, 3, 2018 5:02 PM (EDT):

Thank you, Jim, for your suggestion. Yes, Jesus spent time with unbelievers and others who did not share his world view or his Message. I am reminded of that every time I look at a Crucifix.

Posted by Jim Herperger on Saturday, Mar, 3, 2018 1:58 PM (EDT):

Limiting your reading Janet to those who share your world view or view on Christianity is rife with peril….It leads to intolerance and isolation..Funny how Jesus spent time with unbelievers and others who did not share his world view or his Message..Jordon Peterson shares many of the concerns many of us Catholics have with the moral relativism, political correctness and intolerance found in many of those who are in the press and especially in academia. You may want to have a look at some of his interviews on Youtube..you may be surprised

Posted by James on Friday, Mar, 2, 2018 9:53 AM (EDT):

Although Peterson himself does not believe, he has been highly critical of pop-culture atheism.

Peterson’s philosophy is a combination of Nietzche and Joseph Campbell, with a bit of pop evo-psych thown in to seem scientific. Nevertheless, it is far less harmful than the warmed-over Marxism that is popular in the academic world and increasingly in popular culture (or the nihilistic alt-right reaction to it). He is not a great thinker rising above mediocrity, but a mediocre thinker rising above fools.

Posted by GregB on Friday, Mar, 2, 2018 9:51 AM (EDT):

Bishop Barron:
*
St. John of the Cross wrote a book about divine union titled “The Ascent of Mount Carmel.” The Fall of Man was the fall from off of Mount Carmel. You need to re-read the Fall of Man section and pay attention to all the references that are made to the eye and Adam and Eve’s eyes. The eye is talked about in Matthew 6:22-23:
*
“The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light; but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness. And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be”. (NABRE)
*
When Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened they were no longer illuminated by the light of God’s graces. Through original sin Adam and Eve had stripped themselves of the robes of righteousness, leaving them truly naked. Denuded of grace, spiritually dead. Their now bad eyes leading to a darkened will and intellect. There is a positive form of spiritual nakedness where one seeks to be stripped of the bad eye and all the encrustations of sin and worldly attachments that can separate us from God and the reception of His pure light of grace through divine union.

Posted by Mark on Thursday, Mar, 1, 2018 11:19 PM (EDT):

I have read the book. It seemed to be somewhat wordy to say the same basic things. However I do like the guy. Seems to get the problem with modern culture or lack there of.

Posted by Howard on Thursday, Mar, 1, 2018 5:13 PM (EDT):

I take issue with another “Gnosticizing tendency”—reading Genesis like it was the “Gospel of Judas”. Once we accept the idea that we are more “mature”, “grown-up”, “pragmatic”, “real-world”, or whatever for rejecting the idea that obeying God is always the right thing to do—once we accept that our morals are better than God’s, or our understanding of the situation is better than God’s—it’s all over. Consequently, this is the message being constantly pushed on us. “Tread on the face of Christ and renounce Him: it is for the greater good!” “Abortion may be an evil, but so are taxes and government regulations! Give in a little on abortion, and we may be able to arrange a tax break for you!”

Posted by Andy on Thursday, Mar, 1, 2018 12:48 PM (EDT):

Jordan Peterson is more Catholic then people who comment under this post, and talk about sacraments and are “self-proclaimed defenders of faith”. Jordan Peterson ALREADY did way more to bring Catholic Faith to people then you “proclaimed defenders of faith”. Go with peace and sin no more.

Posted by Janet on Wednesday, Feb, 28, 2018 9:13 PM (EDT):

Bishop Barron? Or is it Bishop Peterson? You “like” this book and “warmly” recommend it? A book written by a man who professes atheism? What message are you sending? Do you still believe in GOD?????

Posted by C-Marie on Wednesday, Feb, 28, 2018 7:13 PM (EDT):

And just now,I am in prayertime, and it comes to my mind and heart for me and all who are willing, to pray for Mr. Peterson to receive the graces of conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ, which graces God sends to him daily.
Pray that he no longer “...fear that He is”“”“, but joyfully embrace that God is and that God has a work for him to do.
How I wish that Bishop Barron had recommended the same.
God bless, C-Marie

Posted by C-Marie on Wednesday, Feb, 28, 2018 6:58 PM (EDT):

This article on Peterson almost reads as though the information was taken from Wikipedia….....

“Politically, Peterson describes himself as a classic British liberal.[101][15] He is a philosophical pragmatist.[48] In a 2017 interview, Peterson identified as a Christian,[102] but in 2018 he did not.[103] He emphasized his conceptualization of Christianity is probably not what it is generally understood, stating that the ethical responsibility of a Christian is to imitate Christ, for him meaning “something like you need to take responsibility for the evil in the world as if you were responsible for it ... to understand that you determine the direction of the world, whether it’s toward heaven or hell”.[103] When asked if he believes in God, Peterson responded: “I think the proper response to that is No, but I’m afraid He might exist”.[7] Writing for The Spectator, Tim Lott said Peterson draws inspiration from Jung’s philosophy of religion, and holds views similar to the Christian existentialism of Søren Kierkegaard and Paul Tillich. Lott also said Peterson has respect for Taoism, as it views nature as a struggle between order and chaos, and posits that life would be meaningless without this duality.[15]”.

I looked this info up as I had never heard of Jordan Peterson.. So why does Bishop Barron recommend this man to be a teacher of our young men, when Mr. Peterson who professes atheism, has so much of his own “manhood” yet to be developed by the grace of God? God bless, C-Marie

Posted by Donald Link on Wednesday, Feb, 28, 2018 6:42 PM (EDT):

It will take more that one Jordan Peterson to restore sanity to the country and its man-child prime minister. Used to be the country was regarded rather favorably as level minded and well behaved compare to its southern neighbor, who was regarded as a bit rough around the edges. Now common sense, once highly regarded, seems in short supply up north.

Posted by C-Marie on Wednesday, Feb, 28, 2018 6:00 PM (EDT):

Dear Bishop Barron, Have you no genuine Christ love for the young men to whom you are recommending Mr.Peterson and his ideas???

You bring in the Tao image of order and chaos…..are you loosing your footing in some way??? Is fame causing problems?.

How can you say “So do I thoroughly support Jordan Peterson’s approach? Well, no, though a full explication of my objection would take us far beyond the confines of this brief article. In a word, I have the same concern about Peterson that I have about both Campbell and Jung, namely, the Gnosticizing tendency to read Biblical religion purely psychologically and philosophically and not at all historically…” ,

And then say “...but at the same time, every Christian has to accept the fact that the God of the Bible is not simply a principle or an abstraction, but rather a living God who acts in history…”,

Accept the fact??? How about teaching Christians to joyfully with gratefulness and thanksgiving, to receive withh all of their hearts that God has revealed Himself as the Living God…..that man’s attempts to “know” Him without faith, fall flat….that man’s wisdom is nothing compared to God’s.

And then say “On balance, I like this book and warmly recommend it. I think it’s especially valuable for the beleaguered young men in our society, who need a mentor to tell them to stand up straight and act like heroes…” ???

It is so much better to teach young boys and men to “man up” (read this description in the Knox Bible), by learning Jesus Christ and His ways, and His utter reliance on our Father, as He said, “I go to My Father and to your Father, to My God and to your God.”, when talking to Mary Magdalen after His Resurrection. Please use the gifts that God has given to you, to draw these young men to Jesus Christ and to not send them seeking their “manhood” from the world. Maybe re-read this article that you wrote and fully understand your responsibility concerning this recommendation that you have made. Maybe change your recommendations??

God bless, C-Marie

Posted by Sue on Wednesday, Feb, 28, 2018 5:59 PM (EDT):

There’s a good UTube discussion with Patrick Coffin on catholicism and Christianity, with Jordan, where Patrick tries to pin him down. Unsuccessfully. Great discussion, though.

Posted by Maria on Wednesday, Feb, 28, 2018 3:03 PM (EDT):

Jordan Peterson, I have spent countless hours the last few months watching this psychologist professor in Yahoo, and have being extremely impressed with his intelligence and braveness! Defying the general media of their complicit beliefs, is not small task.
For that alone I admire! Didn’t read his book yet, but I will. Thanks for this unbiased article!

Maria Delia

Posted by Carolyn on Wednesday, Feb, 28, 2018 2:25 PM (EDT):

Bishop Barron, Jordan Peterson has mentioned that he is still trying to understand the role
of Christianity in his findings. I could not think of a better discussion than the two of
you getting together to hash this out. I look forward to reading more from you through the
light of a Catholic perspective. I have a few reservations about Mr. Peterson but am
grateful that he is speaking out on the issues that he does.

Posted by Julian on Wednesday, Feb, 28, 2018 12:21 PM (EDT):

I would really like to see a Christian response to Peterson. The responses I have seen have been infurinatiningly brief, unsatisfactory or just reiterating the hope that Peterson will come to christ. So please Bishop Barron, I would love to read your 12 page article and I’m sure there are many Christians out there who are, like me, hoping for a articulate, informed christian response to Petersons work.

Posted by Janet on Wednesday, Feb, 28, 2018 9:38 AM (EDT):

Death. Judgement. Heaven. Hell. Jesus I trust in YOU!

Posted by Dan on Wednesday, Feb, 28, 2018 9:02 AM (EDT):

Compared to our current pope, Jordan Peterson is an apostle…......

Posted by Bobadinga on Wednesday, Feb, 28, 2018 5:55 AM (EDT):

Bishop Barron on the money yet again.

Posted by Andrew on Wednesday, Feb, 28, 2018 2:29 AM (EDT):

Aw man! Now even Bishop Barron has joined the Cult of Peterson. IS NO ONE SAFE?!

Don’t worry, overeager commenters; I’m kidding. Mostly.

Posted by GregB on Wednesday, Feb, 28, 2018 1:26 AM (EDT):

Bishop Barron has taken leave of his senses on his presentation of Adam and Eve. In the Fall of Man in Genesis, what the serpent was promising Adam and Eve was autonomy from God. The Trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit exist in harmonious intimate union. They are not competitors. The serpent was setting things up that the relationship between God and Adam and Eve was a competitive zero-sum power struggle; that they had to act ungodly, be disobedient, and breach the union of their relationship with God to gain autonomous godhood. Being made in God’s image and likeness, anything that would alienate Adam and Eve from God would also alienate them from each other, and would include self alienation. Satan views his relationship with God to be a power struggle. Adam and Eve valued the gift more than the gift Giver.
*
You can probably call a monastic cloister a “walled garden.” It is in these “walled gardens” where contemplative orders seek a deeper spiritual relationship with God.
*
In Gen 1:28 it says:
*
And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
*
It seems to me that to subdue the earth and have dominion over the animal kingdom would require humans to have knowledge about how the natural world functions. This looks like a clear mandate for doing scientific research.
*
In the second creation story God creates the animals and Adam names them in a cooperative activity. This looks like plain and simple taxonomy.
*
No, what took place in Eden was that Adam and Eve took their spiritual direction from the serpent and not from God.

Posted by Andy on Tuesday, Feb, 27, 2018 11:27 PM (EDT):

Great comment. I’m on chapter 7 and I think this book was long awaited not just by me but by MILLIONS (as seen by popularity!). Reading this book brings my faith in God/Jesus to new dimension. Something what I was missing from homilies that I listened to for many, many years. Priests are afraid to “go out” of the premises of the “Church” and because of this faith, our Catholic faith is closed in the walls of our Churches. People have no idea who to evangelize, how to show God in everyday life. God become “ghost, spirit” - very unknown. Peterson shows that God IS part of our lives. Bishop Barron, you mentioned that JP views are somehow Gnostic view on God. Actually, views of Peterson are NOT Gnostic and don’t fall into principles of the Gnosticism. I think that his book is written (and should be read) more from perspective of a person who just took a Bible and start reading it, with knowledge of this where is come from and found there plenty of truth, natural truth. That truth can be related to science and I would say “human experience” of God over the centuries.

Posted by Rod La Rocque on Tuesday, Feb, 27, 2018 10:20 PM (EDT):

This review should have taken the opportunity to see the parallels between the growing interest of young men in traditional Catholicism and liturgy and Petersen’s exhortation to live a heroic life and take responsibility for one’s life and destiny. After all this call to be heroic and accept the sufferings of life is really the call of the Catholic way of life.

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Bishop Robert Barron is an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries and the host of CATHOLICISM, a groundbreaking, award winning documentary about the Catholic Faith. He received a Master’s Degree in Philosophy from the Catholic University of America (1982) and a doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Institut Catholique de Paris (1992).

He has published numerous books, essays, and articles on theology and the spiritual life. He has also appeared on several media outlets including NBC, PBS, FOX News, CNN, and EWTN. His website, WordOnFire.org, has reached over 3.8 million people and his weekly YouTube videos have been viewed over nine million times. His pioneering work in evangelizing through the new media led the late Cardinal Francis George to describe him as “one of the Church’s best messengers.”

He was consecrated an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles on Sept. 8, 2015.